Farm and Rural Workers’ Organisations to Join Nationwide SKM Protests on November 26

New Delhi: A joint platform of all-India farmers’ and rural workers’ organisations has announced that it will participate in the nationwide protests called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on November 26, marking the anniversary of the farmers’ agitation. In a statement, the platform urged agricultural workers across the country to join the protests and strengthen unity between farmers and farm labourers.

The organisations said the Modi government had violated the assurances it gave on December 9, 2021, following the historic farmers’ agitation that forced the Centre to withdraw the three anti-farmer agricultural laws. They pointed out that the government was unwilling to provide a legal guarantee of minimum support prices (MSP) for all crops at one-and-a-half times the cost of production.

They alleged that the government was implementing policies that opened the agricultural sector to corporate exploitation. Employment opportunities in rural areas were declining, while unemployment, poverty and hunger were increasing. The organisations also said the Centre’s move to weaken the rural employment guarantee scheme amounted to an attack on the livelihood rights of rural workers.

The organisations have called for the restoration of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, and demanded at least 200 days of employment annually, a minimum daily wage of Rs 700 and a special summer allowance.

Their other demands include the distribution of land to landless agricultural workers, an end to atrocities and discrimination against Dalits, Adivasis and women agricultural workers, and the withdrawal of the four anti-worker labour codes.

The organisations also demanded the cancellation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the publication of the names of voters who had been removed from the lists in every panchayat. They further called for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar from office and legal action against him.

The statement said the Centre was extending benefits to corporates while imposing an increasing burden on farmers and workers. The organisations vowed to intensify their struggle against the privatisation of public sector institutions and moves targeting democratic and constitutional rights.

The joint statement was signed by B Venkat of the All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU), GS Goria of the BKMU, Dhirendra Jha of the AIRA-LA, Asit Ganguly of the AISKS and Dharmendra of the AIKSU.